People out shopping in a Derby suburb this afternoon did a double-take when the Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson hopped out of a car and started greeting passers-by.

He was on a flying visit to the shopping centre in Nottingham Road, Chaddesden, supporting Conservative candidates in the forthcoming local elections on Thursday, May 3.

Mr Johnson was welcomed by sitting candidate Councillor Jonathan Smale, who is not up for re-election this year, and the candidate for the seat, Rob Cooper, which is currently occupied by Labour councillor Sara Bolton, who is standing for re-election.

Foreign secretary Boris Johnson meets Tory faithful in Chaddesden

Screams and hugs from some women, on a par with a visit by a pop star, greeted Mr Johnson as he made his way around many of the shops.

Clutching a handful of campaign leaflets he introduced Mr Cooper to people on the street and behind the counters in shops.

Read More

On his walkabout he was given an Easter egg, with his name on it, in the Thornton’s shop – which he insisted on paying for – bought a sausage roll in Birds Confectioners, which he proceeded to eat and looked to find something to buy in the charity shop in the row of shops.

Video Loading

Video Unavailable

Click to playTap to play

The video will start in 8Cancel

Play now

There was a heavy uniformed and plainclothes police presence around the car park area in front of the shops.

But regardless of this, Mr Johnson plunged into the Co-op store with his political and police detail trailing behind and the local media in hot pursuit.

Read More

He shook hands with several members of the public, who pledged to vote Tory at the local election, and shook hands with the management team, who came to see what all the fuss was about.

Then it was on to Thorntons, where staff wanted to take photos of him and it was a similar story in the Treetops Hospice Care charity shop, where he also took time to see if there was anything he wanted to buy.

Mr Johnson receives an easter egg with his name on it

But with time pressing, he moved on yet again to surprise staff in the Carpet Time carpet shop before doubling back to Bird’s Confectioners.

In there he insisted on paying for his 77p sausage roll but with only a debit card on him was forced to rely on Mr Cooper to pay for the snack after he offered.

Read More

Speaking after the walkabout Mr Johnson said he was pleased to be in Derby and hailed it as one of the “great centres of railways” in the world. He said that he was also supporting the Conservatives to take power in Derby to reverse the plan to spend £44 million on a new Assembly Rooms and also to scrap the “brown bin tax”.

He stops to speak someone in a mobility scooter

He said: “They have a sensible plan to save taxpayers money and give better value for the money they have.”

He said he had received a good reception from people in Chaddesden including “one nice person who had just had a tattoo”.

In recent days, Mr Johnson had been in the headlines for criticisms of Russia including likening Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to Hitler, in the wake of the poisoning of former secret agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with a nerve agent, attributed to Russia by the UK Government.

When asked about whether he would “prod the bear once too often” and anger Russia more, Mr Johnson said: “I just want our fans going to Russia for the World Cup to be treated respectfully.” But he denied his comments had become “too extreme”.

We've just launched our very own app for Android and Apple devices which can be tailored to deliver the news and sport that you're interested in.